Media: Violence and Utopia

Dr. Patricia Edgar provided the keynote speech at the Forth World Summit on the Media for Children and Adolescents (WSMCA) in Rio de Janeiro. She opens by stating that she is before the audience "in place of a very famous man - Nelson Mandela." Her speech describes values needed for society to move away from violence, disequilibrium, consumerism, and other societal ills. She offers several anecdotes and historical references and their role in respect to media content.

Edgar notes that "The media model that dominates the world is Western, and predominantly American. The values represented by the dominant Western media and most of the programs made are largely irrelevant to the needs of most children in the world today." She states "There is a crisis of meaning in the West... Western media with its pressure to buy, buy, and buy, its violence and sensationalism, cannot claim to do that." Edgar suggest that "the importance of early development IS as a predictor of everything
that follows. And for children to develop a sense of social purpose, that is crucial for their well-being, they need to understand who they are, they need to know their cultural roots through hearing and seeing their own stories."

Edgar suggests that trying to isolate the impact of media alone misses the bigger issue because risk factors for children in trouble include: child abuse, family breakdown, unemployment and poverty, isolation, lack of social success, peer group pressure." She also states that while "media violence may not be a major factor in explaining individual acts of violence, it may however, be a very important factor at the societal level. She suggests that the media depict a violent world, and the media exploit that
violence in news, sports and fictional drama. "As a result of viewing this type of programming, day after day, people (viewers) perceive the world to be a much more dangerous place than it actually is and fear they will be the victims of violence. This is particularly true for the vulnerable - those living alone, women and older people. As well, perpetrators learn that aggressive attitudes and behaviors are often acceptable." She goes on to point out that morality tales are now rare and that "gangsters, drug
dealers and psychopaths are often glamorized" and that "right and wrong are no longer clear concepts."

Edgar provides the book, The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell as one example of a societal response to criminal behaviour.
Gladwell says that "crime is contagious" and that it "can start with a broken window and spread to an entire community. The tipping
point is not a person, but something physical, like graffiti. The example in Gladwell's book is of New York City in the 1980's as
one of the most violent cities in the United States. At that time the New York subway was covered in graffiti and considered

unsafe. A combination of a new subway director cleaning up the subway (line by line and train by train) with a police enforcement

cracking down, gradually a dramatic reversal took place and by the early 1990's crime decreased significantly. The purpose of this

story is to support Gladwell's theory "that the urban criminal – is actually someone who is alert to all kinds of cues, and who

is prompted to commit crimes based on his perception of the world around him. Behaviour, it is argued, is a function of social

context. And no issue is too small to have an effect. Cleaning up the street can have more important consequences than one might think."

Edgar also suggests that "many in the West are questioning the individualism, materialism and consumerism that dominate our way of

life and the media which play an integral role in selling and endorsing these values." She refers to Marshall McLuhan's statement

of 35 years ago “The medium is the message” where "he argued that society is shaped more by the nature of the media by which men

communicate than by the content of the communication." She continues "any society that subordinates every value to the market,

divides those who can buy from those who cannot, undermining social cohesion."

Edgar uses the food industry as an example of how television advertising affects children. Market forces, including the discovery

of food substitutes led to lower prices and more calories. "A serving of McDonald’s French fries ballooned from 200 calories in

1960 to the present 610 calories. And.... Advertisements for food were more than one-third of the ads placed in the Saturday

slot." She suggests that advertising carries the message that "it’s healthy to be fat; bigger is better."

Edgar asks "is the Western model of consumerism sustainable for us all in the long term? Clearly it is not. Can 6 per cent of the

world’s population effectively impose its will, its values – its media power and technological superiority - on the other 94% of

mankind? Not for long."

In closing Edgar says, "television can be a wonderful medium to inspire and inform. This Summit is all about making a difference,

changing directions, or making a start."